Mutual Aid Association celebrates 120 years of service.

The Mutual Aid Association (MAA) is celebrating 120 years of service to the Church of the Brethren in 2005. "The organization founded by Brethren for Brethren now reaches this historic milestone," MAA said in a release about plans for a celebration at Annual Conference. The organization invites Brethren to join MAA "for its 120th birthday party! We celebrate the spirit of brothers and sisters working together, the idea of the strong protecting the weak, and the commitment that we stand together, so that all may benefit."

MAA was begun in 1885 as the Mutual Aid Society of Northeastern Kansas by church members who "sought an alternative to worldly insurance and wanted to continue the tradition of sharing one another's burdens, typified by the practice known as barn-raising," the release said. "For nearly the first century of its work, MAA operated from the kitchen table of its then-president. The Annual Meeting set simple rates and assessed members accordingly. In the 1970s a functional building was constructed near Abilene, Kan., was eventually remodeled and enlarged, and today serves as the association's home office."

Over the decades, changes at MAA have included opening coverage to small businesses and rental properties as well as to suburban housing, and securing personal liability insurance. As risk coverage amounts increased, MAA cooperated with other small mutuals and purchased insurance for safeguarding its own policies in the event of a catastrophe. MAA also created its own benevolence organization, pledging a company tithe to sustain the MAA Share Fund. The fund is a nonprofit entity making matching grants to insured churches for their ministries with people in unexpected financial need.

"Our service has always been the prevention and sharing of misfortune," according to MAA's Centennial History. Today MAA emphasizes property insurance for homes, farms, and small businesses, and covers seasonal dwellings, personal property for renters, and special collections. It serves individuals in the Church of the Brethren and its historically-related denominations and employees of church colleges, retirement homes, and agencies. Through a specialty company MAA secures coverage for congregations, camps, colleges, districts, and other ministries. For more information see www.maabrethren.com.

Source: 2/16/2005 Newsline
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